Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
In theaters now is the dark holiday tale Krampus, where a snowed-in family (including Adam Scott and Toni Collette) must survive the arrival of a dark holiday spirit, “the shadow of St. Nicholas,” Krampus. The intrusion of scary horror tropes into what begins as a Christmas movie might feel like a violation, but it’s really a continuation of one of filmmaking’s most subversive subgenres: the holiday horror movie.
It makes sense, of course. The sentimentality and cheerfulness and wholesome generosity of spirit that defines what we understand to be Christmas and the holidays is ripe for undercutting by a horror movie. In many ways, one couldn’t exist without the other. You can’t appreciate the light without the dark for contrast. And you can’t truly appreciate the serenity of sipping cocoa with loved ones on a peaceful Christmas morning without the contrast of an axe-wielding maniac streaking the snow red in the midst of a murder spree.
With that in mind, here are some of the most essential Christmas-themed horror movies, the better to scare you into the holiday spirit.
'Silent Night, Deadly Night' (1984)
After a childhood trauma leaves him with a warped, twisted memory of Santa Claus, an orphaned teenager goes on a grisly killing spree while dressed up as jolly ol’ Saint Nick. Silent Night, Deadly Night was massively controversial in its day, particularly for its ad campaign showing an axe-wilding Santa. It drew condemnation from Siskel & Ebert (who shamed the producers of the film by name) and the PTA. Of course, there’s no better way to make a film a cult classic than by calling out a film’s depravity and exploitation. Today, Silent Night, Deadly Night ranks among the most notorious horror movies of all time.
[You can watch Silent Night, Deadly Night on Hulu with a Showtime subscription.]
'Gremlins' (1984)
“It begins like It’s a Wonderful Life but ends like The Birds,” director Joe Dante has said of his film, and he’s pretty much on the money. Gremlins is great in like six different ways. It’s a great comedy, a great horror movie, a great Christmas movie. It’s got everything you could ask for, plus Phoebe Cates to boot.
'Jack Frost' (1997)
This one often gets confused for a Michael Keaton movie where a dad is reincarnated as a snowman and has heart-warming good times with this son. That movie was also called Jack Frost, and it was released theatrically only one year later. But that’s not the movie we’re talking about. The movie we’re talking about is about a serial killer whose transport to the electric chair crashes with genetic material, and he mutates into a killer snowman. It also had a terrifying hologram VHS cover that turned from harmless to horrifying.
'Black Christmas' (2006)
The mid-2000s trend of remaking slasher films from the ’70s and ’80s continued with Black Christmas. The original from 1974 (which you can stream on YouTube) was written and directed by Bob Clark, who also wrote and directed A Christmas Story. It’s since become a cult classic of horror. The remake, as is the case with most remakes, didn’t get a lot of love from critics, but both films are great examples of how effective it can be to set horror scenes amid colorful Christmas lights.
'P2' (2007)
Sometimes, the appeal of setting a horror movie on Christmas is that it keeps the rest of the world distracted. While everybody else, who on any other night might be working or out and about or generally around in case you need the kindness of strangers, is busy with holiday revelry, it can leave other people incredibly isolated and alone. It’s another perfect horror scenario, one that taps into an elemental human fear. In P2, Rachel Nichols finds herself trapped in a parking garage, at the mercy of a maniac.
'American Horror Story: Asylum' (2012)
American Horror Story makes a point of setting an episode or two aside to celebrate the extra-special horrors of Halloween. But in their Asylum season, they managed to put together “Unholy Night,” a Christmas-themed episode to beat the band (to death). It sounds overly simple to say all you need to do is cast Ian McShane as a psycho in a Santa costume, but sometimes it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.
[You can watch American Horror Story‘s “Unholy Night” on Netflix.]
